Apparatus for receiving and delivering mail-bags



W. B. TOCHER. APPARATUS FOR RECEIVING AND DELIVERING MAIL BAGS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 8. I916.

Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

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APPLICATION FILED MAR. 8. 19l6 Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

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3513 his WILLIAM B. 'IOCI-IER, 0F JAMAICA, NEW YORK.

APPARATUS FOR RECEIVING AND DELIVERING MAIL-BAGS.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 29, 1916..

Application filed March 8, 1916. Serial No. 82,961.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM B. TooHER, a citizen of the United States,and residing at Jamaica, Long Island, in thecounty of Queens and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inApparatus for Receiving-and Delivering Mail-Bags, of which the followingis a specification, such as will enable those skilled in the art towhich it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to railway appara tus for delivering mail bagsfrom a moving train to a station and also for delivering said bags fromthe station to the train, and the object thereto is to provide animproved apparatus for this purpose, whereby mail bags may be moresafely and easily transferred, as described, and without danger ofinjuring said bags or their contents in any way.

The invention described and claimed herein is an improvement on thatdescribed and claimed in U. S. Letters Patent No. 627,294 granted to H.J. Brown June 20, 1899, and said invention is fully disclosed in thefollowing specification, of which the accompanying drawing forms a part,in which the separate parts of my improvement are designated by suitablereference characters in each of the views, and in which Figure 1 is aside elevation showing the apparatus which I employ and its method ofuse; Fig. 2 a plan view thereof partly in section; Fig. 3 a crosssection on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 1 a plan view of theconstruction shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 a view similar to Fig. 3 butshowing only part of the construction and showing the same on an enlarged scale; Fig. 6 a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1; Fig. 7 asection on the line 77 of Fig. 4 and on an enlarged scale; and, Fig. 8 aview of the opposite side of a part of the construction show-n in Fig.6.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, and in Figs. 1 and 2thereof, I have shown at 10 the rails of a railway track and at 11 amail car and, in the practice of my invention, I provide adjacent to astation two standards or supports 12 and 13 which are arrangedlongitudinally of the track and at one side thereof and at apredetermined distance apart.

The standard 13 is set closer to the track than the standard 12, and thestandard 12 is much higher than the standard 13, and secured to the topsof said standards is a cord or cable ll preferably of wire, and by meansof the fact that one of said standards or supports is higher than theother, the said cord or cable is maintained at an inclination, the endthereof which passes over or is connected with the standard or support12 being higher than the other end.

Secured to the side of the car 11 adjacent to a door 15 is an angleplate bracket 16 below which is secured a housing bracket 17, andmounted between said brackets is an arm 18 adapted to swing in ahorizontal plane. The arm 18, in the construction shown, is composedoftwo parallel parts and the inner end thereof is provided with a verticalmember 19 which is pivoted in the brackets 16 and 17, and the lower endthereof passes into the bracket 17 and is provided with a beveled gear20, and passed outwardly through the side of the car and into thebracket 17 is a shaft 21 provided at its outer end with a gear 22 whichmeshes with the gear 20 and at itsinner end with a crank 23 by means ofwhich thearm 18 may be swung horizontally.

Mounted on the outer end portion of the arm 18 is a yoke-shapedattachment 24; having a top plate which projects outwardly and one sideof which is provided with a hook 25 which opens upwardly and the outerend of the arm 18 isprovided with a fork 26, and inwardly of the fork 26and under the top plate of the yoke-shaped attachment 2a is mounted astop device 27.

The standard 12 is composed of two spaced parts in the form ofconstruction shown, or provided with a central slot 28 in which ispivoted an arm 29 to which is pivoted a curved supplemental arm 30provided in its bottom surface or edge with spaced recesses 31, and thestandard 12 is provided with a cross pin 32 which operates in connectionwith said recesses, and by means of this construction the arm 29 may beraised or lowered, and adjusted'into different positions, and anydesired number of the recesses 31 may be employed, and the object of therecesses 31 and pin 32 is to lock the arm 29 in its horizontal position,as shown in Fig. 6, which is its operative position, and also to holdsaid arm in its lowest position for' the purpose hereinafter described.

The arm 29 is provided on one side therecarrying devices 35 is suspendedfrom the of and near its outer end with a V-shaped stud 33, and the arm30 is provided on one side thereof with a stud 34. I also provide a bagcarrying or suspending device 35 comprising a V-shaped frame the sidearms of which are provided near their lower ends with inwardly directedmembers 36 to which are pivoted supplemental arms 37 having cam-shapedheads 38. The arms 37 are adapted to fold inwardly as shown in dottedlines in Fig. '5, but their cam-shaped heads 36 prevent their foldingoutwardly beyond the horizontal position as indicated in full lines insaid figure.

One arm of the bag carrying device 35 is .provided with an extension 39at the top of which said'arm is provided at its opposite sides withprojecting lugs 10, and at the top of the extension 39 is a projectingshoulder .41, and the bag carrying device 35 may be attached to the arm18 by slipping the .head of the extension 39 of one side of said bagcarrying device into the fork 26 at the end of said arm, as shown inFig. 3, in which position of said bag carrying device the head of theextension 39 strikes against the stop device 27 and the shoulder 41 fitsunder the top plate of the yoke-shaped attachment 24 and the lugs a0bear on the sides of the fork 26 at the outer end of the arm 18.

Two of the bag carrying devices 35 are employed, one in connection withthe arm 18 for delivering a mail bag at a station and the other-inconnection with the arm 29 of the standard 12 for delivering a mail bagto the train or car of a train.

The extension 39 of one arm of the bag carrying device is provided witha bag hook 42 which is loosely suspended therefrom and from which a mailbag 43 may be suspended, and when it is desired to deliver a .bag fromthe trainto a statlon, one of the bag arm 18 as indicated in Fig. 3, andthe position of said arm with reference to the cable 14 is so adjustedthat as the train passes the cable 14 passes in between the supplementalarms 37 of the bag carrying device suspended from the arm 18, in whichoperation said cable raises said arms, or one of them, and as the trainproceeds, and by reason of the relative position of the cable and thetrack, and the fact that the height of said cable between the standards12 and 13 gradually increases, the bag carrying device '35 will be drawnout from, or disconnected. from the arm 18, and said bag carrying devicewill be left suspended on the cable 14, between the standards 12 and 13.

In delivering a bag to the train, one of the bag carrying devices 35 issuspended from the V-shaped stud 33 at the end of the arm 29 asindicated in Fig. 6, and one side arm of said bag carrying devicestrikes against the stud 34 on the arm 30 and this holds the bagcarrying device 35 in proper position, and as the train proceeds on itsway after depositing a bag at the station, as above described, the arm18 strikes the bag carrying device 35 suspended from the arm 29 of thestandard 12 and detaches said bag carrying device from the stud 33 andfrom the arm 29 and the said bag carrying device drops into the hook 25at the end of the arm 18 and may be removed therefrom by the operator onthe train.

The object in being able to lower the arm 29 of the standard 12 is tofacilitate the suspending of the bag carrying device 35 therefrom, aswill be readily understood.

From the foregoing description, it will be understood that the mainfeature of this improvement in apparatus of the class specified is thebag carrying or suspending device 35., and the construction andoperation of the arms 18 and 29 and the means whereby the bag carryingdevice 35 is employed in connection with said arms, and while I haveshown and described the construction which I prefer in carrying myinvention into effect, the invention is not limited to the exact detailsof construction herein shown and described, and changes therein andmodifications thereof may be made, within the scope of the appendedclaims, without departing from the spirit of my invention or sacrificingits advantages.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an apparatus of the class described, a bag carrying and suspendingdevice comprising a V-shaped frame the side arms of which are providednear their ends with supplemental pivoted arms adapted to fold inwardlybut normally held in a horizontal position, and means for detachablysupporting said device adjacent to the side of a car in a plane at rightangles thereto and with the side arms directed downwardly.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, a bag carrying and suspendingdevice comprising a V-shaped frame, the side arms of which are providednear their ends with supplemental pivoted arms adapted to fold inwardlybut normally held in a horizontal position, one of said arms being alsoprovided with an extension from which is loosely suspended a bag holder.

3. In an apparatus of the class described, an arm connected with amovable car and adapted to swing horizontally, said arm being providedat its outer end with a fork,

horizontal position, one of the side arms of the V-shaped frame beingprovided with a part adapted to be detachably inserted into said fork.

4. In an apparatus of the class described, an arm connected with a carand adapted to swing horizontally, said arm being provided at its outerend with a fork and one side thereof being provided adjacent to said endwith a hook device which opens upwardly.

5. In an apparatus for delivering mail bags from a moving train to thestation and from the station to the train, a cable supportedlongitudinally of the track at one side thereof by standards, one ofwhich is higher than the other, an arm connected with a car adjacent toa door therein and provided with a hook device, another arm connectedwith the higher of said standards, and two similar bag carrying andsuspendtill;

ing devices one of which is adapted to be detachably connected with thearm which is connected with the car and to be detached therefrom by saidcable as the car passes the station and the other of said bag carryingand suspending devices being adapted to be detachably connected with thearm of said standard and to be detached therefrom by the arm connectedwith the car as the car passes the standard and to be supported by saidhook device.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname in presence of the subscribing witnesses this 4th day of March,1916.

WILLIAM B. TOCHER.

Witnesses:

O. MULREANY, H. E. THOMPSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

